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Vision

To help transition Japan to a peace promoting post-carbon country while enjoying every step of the process.僕のビジョンは、祖国日本で、平和文化を育みポストカーボン（Post-Carbon) 社会を促進してゆく事です。化石燃料や原子力に頼らず、他国の資源を取らない、自給自足な国へのトランジションを実現させてゆきたいです。

Thursday, August 25, 2011

The two most well-known and revolutionary Japanese natural farmers alive today are probably Kazuichi Kawaguchi and Akinori Kimura. I've written a bit about Kazuichi in the past and hopefully I will write more soon, but this entry is about Akinori and his "Miracle Apples."

奇跡の林檎という本を読んだ事がありますか？

なければ是非読んでみてください。

とても感動的なお話で、

サステナビリティー革命のための大切なヒントが秘められていると思います。

不可能を可能にすること。

だれもが無理だと思う事に挑戦し、

どんどん実現させて生きましょう。

【不可能】とは想像力の欠如なのです。

みんなでやれば木村さんの様に

孤独に苦しむ必要もありません。

木村さんの努力と自然に感謝！

因にオノ・ヨーコさんが感動のあまり、

英語の翻訳を依頼して、

ネットに公開しています。

リンクは記事の一番下です。

Above is the bestseller book that introduced me to this amazing man.
Later, I watched a TV show that made him even more famous
and reignited the consciousness of the Japanese masses about chemical-free foods.
It is "common sense" that you can't grow fruits without chemicals in mainstream Japan.

Especially apples.

That's why its called the miracle apple.

I remember doing a presentation about natural farming at the PDC this year, and Doug Bullock having a hard time believing the apple story. Not an unusual response as the growing season in Japan is rainy and hot, which is an ideal environment for pests like bugs and fungi to flourish. From the book,

Research in Japan suggests that if pesticides are not used, apple yields decline by at least 90 per cent due to damage caused by pests....

[Apple trees are] subject to major damage which results in a reduction in yield to 10 per cent or less of annual average yield cannot produce blossom the following year. Without blossom, there will of course be no fruit. In other words, if pesticides are not used for two continuous years, the apple crop will almost certainly drop to zero. Unless pesticides are used, this situation cannot be turned around....

Attacks by huge swarms of destructive insects, diseases spreading like wildfire … the history of apple growing is also one of the futile battles against insects and disease. One ray of light illuminating the battlefield was pesticides. Had pesticides not been developed, apple growing would have disappeared in Aomori Prefecture ages ago. The idea of growing apples without pesticides is nothing but nonsense. All apple farmers are convinced of this. The question is, why was Kimura [not] taken in by it?

Whether it be Akinori or Masanobu Fukuoka, what strikes me is their relentless curiosity and exceptional observation skills. Deep observation seems to be the key element for succeeding in natural farming....and in any of life's tasks for that matter. Seeing reality for what it is.

Pests, diseases, and weeds are indicators of ecological balance and plant health. Instead of seeing these as "enemies" to fight against, we can appreciate them as information about our environment, and receive them as a challenging opportunity to look deeply into root causes. Same with people and their actions. If we really understand the unmet needs of ourselves and others, we can come up with better strategies to meet those needs.

A common experience that these natural farming pioneers went through is intense hardship. To be a farmer and have no harvest is devastating in itself. But to be ostracized by your community and at times threatened, in addition to shaming your family because they were attempting something new must have been excruciating.

Anyways, this book is very touching and entertaining, and the two Japanese women I lent it to cried while reading it. Very touching story. Its one man's quest to attempt the impossible, and is filled with interesting stories of Japanese culture, and even aliens!

Unfortunately, it's in Japanese.......

But, after reading the book on a flight from Japan to NYC, Yoko Ono was deeply moved. She had it translated and posted the text on the web for all to enjoy! Many thanks to Yoko, the original author, and of course Akinori, who almost commit suicide after six years of failing in his attempts and suffering immensely along with his family.

Firstly…information is the key to transformation. That does not necessarily mean more information…It means relevant, compelling, select, powerful, timely, accurate information flowing in new ways to new recipients, carrying new content, suggesting new rules and goals. When its infomation flows are changed, any system will behave differently.

社会改革を起こす為に必要なのは【情報】です。

しかし、ただ情報量を増やすのではなく、適切で、説得力があり、

選び出された強力でタイムリーで正確な情報が

必要だと著者は主張しています。

新しい形で新しいオーディエンスにこの情報が流れなければ行けません。

情報の流れが変われば

システムの動きが変わります。

Secondly, systems strongly resist changes in their infomation flows, especially in their rules and goals. It is not surprising that those who benefit from the current system actively oppose such revision. Entrenched political, economic, and religious cliques can constrain almost entirely the attempts of an individual or small group to operate by different rules or to attain goals different from those sanctioned by the system. Innovators can be ignored, marginalised, ridiculed, denied promotions or resources or public voices... they can be literally or figuratively snuffed out.

システムというものは情報の流れの変化に抵抗します。

特にルールや目的への変化。

現在のシステムで有利な人達（強力な政治、経済、宗教関係者の派閥など）は変化を妨げます。

革新者は無視されたり、過小評価されたり、馬鹿にされたり、

昇格や資源や自由に考えを表明する事を拒まれるのです。

社会から消されたりもします。

Only innovators, however - by perceiving the need for new info, rules, and goals, communicating about them, and trying them out - can make the changes that transform systems…Margret Mead, "Never deny the power of a small group of committed individuals to change the world. Indeed that is the only thing that ever has."

We have learned the hard way that it is difficult to live a life of material moderation within a system that expects, exhorts, and rewards consumption...

私たちは、消費を期待し、勧告し、報酬するシステムの中で、

物質的な節度を実践する難しさを身をもって学なんできました。

Above all, it is difficult to put forth new info in a system that is structured to hear only old info. Just try, sometime, to question in public the value of more growth, or even to make a distinction between growth and development, and you will see what we mean. It takes courage and clarity to challenge an established system. But it can be done.

何よりも、今までと同じ情報しか受け入れないシステムに

新しい情報を提示するのは難しいのです。

確立したシステムに立ち向かうためには、

勇気と精神的な明晰さが必要です。

しかし、やればできます。

At the very end of the book they explain the following essential tools for the revolution: visioning, networking, truth-telling, learning, and loving.

When I read systems science literature, I keep thinking about how much change could happen if we had the same determination, resources, and commitment to sustainability as marketers have to selling us unnecessary stuff (aka thneeds), or those who worked tirelessly to manifest the second Iraq invasion in 2003 (the neo-conservatives?). Those guys must work hard and effectively to achieve their goals. Very impressive...and disastrously tragic.

Time to plant more weeds of peace and happiness.

本の最後に革命に必要な【道具】について説明があります。

それらは：ビジョンニング、ネットワーキング、真実を語る事、学ぶ事

そして愛する事。

*copied from http://www.flickr.com/photos/wheatfields/4460258790/ on 8.24.11

Sunday, August 21, 2011

While reading the chapter "Tools for the Transition to Sustainability" in the book Limits to Growth: The 30-year Update, I was reminded of the video above. The authors of the book state,

Sustainability and sufficiency and equity require structural change; they require a revolution, not in the political sense, like the French Revolution, but in the much more profound sense of the agricultural or industrial revolutions.

This sort of call for a cultural paradigm shift seems to be the theme of much of what I've been reading recently, like Sustainability by Design by Ehrenfeld and State of the World 2010: Transforming Cultures From Consumerism to Sustainability by the World Watch Institute.

How to do that is what I want to explore and experiment with.

Anyways, the chapter in Limits to Growth then briefly explains the essence of the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions and its implications. Then they quote historian Donald Worster,

The capitalists...promised that, through the technological dominiation of the earth, they could deliver a more fair, rational, efficient and productive life for everyone...Their method was simply to free individual enterprise from the bonds of traditional hierarchy and community, whether the bondage derived from other humans or the earth...

and that triggered the neurons that reminded me of the youtube video, which triggered further neurons that wrote this entry.

and now presenting..........Mayumi Oda--her art, her friends, and her vision.

Above, Mayumi looking up at one of her paintings after the paper framer gave the finishing touches.

Doug Bullock encouraged me to meet his good friend Mayumi on the Big Island before I left for Japan. I think they know each other back from when the Bullocks lived in Hawaii as "feral hippies". She has been a dedicated activist on socio-environmental issues and nuclear abolition, both areas I have been involved in the West Coast.

This past winter I visited her retreat center, farm and home, Ginger Hill, near Kealakekua bay.

The site is exceptionally beautiful and lush with tropical plants, a mandala garden and a tropical food forest designed by Doug. Similar to the Bullocks, she started with very little and has tirelessly developed the land to the delightful refuge that it is today.

Mayumi offers a program she calls "Goddess Training", a spiritual journey through yoga, meditation, healing foods (e.g. taro), organic gardening, coaching, and various other activities to develop a deep connection with the inner-self and the world. She is an extremely generous person, actively promoting peace and sustainability through various channels such as art, Goddess training, activism, etc. It seems like she has an extensive social network of alternative people from Hawaiian sovereignty activists to traditional Japanese crafts people, to people like Paul Hawken and Masanobu Fukuoka.

Mayumi contacted me this winter to visit Morokino, a rural village in Nara prefecture. In fact, I was with her on the way to this village when the big earthquake and tsunami hit on March 11.

Here is part of a letter Mayumi wrote:

We have been gifted eight large houses to bring youth to the area to help rejuvenate the local agriculture of the land by planting green tea, rice, etc. It was after I arrived in this village that I heard news of the devastating earthquake.For ten years, I worked so hard to make the Japanese government and people aware of the dangers nuclear reactors posed to the well being of Japan and its people if damaged by an earthquake or other natural disaster. When our group, Plutonium Free Future, together with many other organizations, could not succeed at convincing the Japanese government and decision-making bodies that this threat was dire, I retired to Hawaii and started to farm. My goal was to bring Japanese people to my land on the Big Island to teach them how to farm and live sustainably - with a special hope that they could then help their own friends and families in Japan during a time of disaster. That time has unfortunately arrived.However, we have the amazing gift of the village in Morokino and we can start working on site in Japan right now. People that I have trained in sustainable farming are already starting to move there to serve as models for living in harmony with the earth in peace.

Her vision is of a "buddhist utopia" (not necessarily the religion but a practice of mindfulness) designed to support youth from across the world to experience community living espousing the values of peace and sustainability. I've also been hoping to find or create a permaculture community site with a solid mindful living practice for some time now. Both Deer Park Monastery in San Diego and the Bullocks Permaculture Homestead on Orcas have been major influences on my vision.

Slight tangent.

It was a new experience for me to watch artists nerd out on their trades and finished products. A very stimulating moment of passionate artists sharing their excitements, much like the Bullocks talking about plants and tools.

I think his (the man pictured) trade is called "hyouguya". Most likely a dying trade like many other Japanese arts. His job is to draw out the beauty of the art piece, often calligraphy,

through the use of various fancy decorative papers. As this is his passion, he started to pull out many of these handmade papers and shared his excitement. Some of these papers are actually made of thin silver, gold, and even platinum threads. Extremely intricate and luxurious, and the price per foot was shocking!

The serving of tea and snacks is called omotenashi and is a common hospitality practice. It brings me great joy to be a guest in Japan, and to serve guests with omotenashi.

We visited three different sets of people on this trip and each presented us with hot tea and sweets from their region.

And now we head to Morokino village......

Snow capped ume (prunus mume) flowers greet us at the entrance.

Morokino village rice terraces covered in powdery snow.

The village is enclosed by a dense sugi (Japanese Cedar or Cryptomeria japonica) forest like many parts of Japan. The forest gives off a feeling of isolation from the rest of the world, not unlike the Bullocks Permaculture Homestead on Orcas Island.

Sugi is very beautiful and an awesome resource base as a construction material among other things. It is the national tree of Japan; there are some that are thousands of years old known as yakusugi. I remember visiting a hemp baron's house in Tochigi Prefecture with three "rouka" (hallways/corridors) made of yakusugi boards, each at a value of hundred-million yen (over a million dollars)!

Morokino Village

Like many rural villages in Japan, Morokino is challenged with an ageing population and few to no youth. I've heard of shrines and other old structures being deconstructed in some villages because they have become safety hazards, as none of the residents are fit enough to rake the snow off roofs and do yearly structural maintenance.

After cakes, tea snacks, tea, coffee, and a discussion about the future of Morokino Village,

we stopped by the house of a paint brush craftsman. His brushes are specifically designed for different styles of calligraphy, and Mayumi was looking to get one for her upcoming children's book.

He taught us about the various animal hairs he combines to get the ideal mix for the various purposes associated to calligraphy. Its really interesting to explore different peoples' passions and refined crafts. I love it. I also appreciate meeting artists and realising so much common ground between my vision and their lives.

The following day, we visited a dormant farm that is quite close to Nara Station. After driving past a series of terraced rice paddies surrounded by a large sugi forest, we arrived at the scene above.

The property includes a large dilapidated house, tractor shed with a tractor, barn, and a few terraces for gardening. They are looking for people to live and farm it rent free! It is actually not uncommon for cheap or rent free farms in rural areas of Japan as most of the local youth have moved to urban cores for "better opportunities". Farming is out of style in modern Japan, like many places in the world. I think about what Vandana Shiva said,

Work is energy. Two crises of our times are intimately connected — the climate crisis and the unemployment crisis.....To make the energy transition beyond oil, we need to bring people back into the economy, bring human energy back into production, respect physical work, and give it dignity.

My friend Mai, currently attending University of Kyoto, shares similar visions and values with me. I met her on a permaculture farm, Finca Bona Fide, on Isla de Ometepe in Nicaragua. It was a wonderful serendipitous moment as we are both "halfs" (half Japanese half X) of the same age who were on a small island in Nicaragua getting initiated into the world of permaculture.

Mai, my partner Seico, and I are all trying to figure out how to best integrate into Japan where we do not easily blend in, while practicing our values of sustainable living. In some ways, its nice to be treated as an outsider because I think it's easier to be different and not to worry about assimilating. I feel encouraged to be weird and live alternatively. Its much harder to do that when you are expected to be like everybody else.

Permaculture Principle: Embrace and encourage diversity

So, I've been brainstorming the possibility of living in Nara. The Morokino project is very attractive, and the above pictured farm would be a potential site for starting a permaculture homestead/eco-village. Moreover, Nara is a hotspot for natural farming given Kawaguchi lives there and the natural farming free school, Akame juku, is on the border of Nara and Mie.

NEXT STEPS

I will be returning to Japan in two weeks for an entrance interview at the University of Tokyo's Graduate Program in Sustainability Sciences. While I'm in Japan, I plan to strengthen my connection with the Oes in Yamanashi Prefecture and the Morokino Village Project in Nara Prefecture. I'm also interested in exploring the alternative culture and urban permaculture opportunities in Tokyo. And.....I need a job, ideally related to my passions in permaculture and/or group process.

These are some places I hope to visit in the near future:

1. Azumino Permaculture School in Nagano

2. Konohano Family Eco-village in Shizuoka

3. "Miracle Apple" natural farmer Akinori Kimura's orchard in Aomori

4. Shodoshima as a potential homesteading site

5. Yakushima to be awed by the mystical forest with some of the oldest organisms in the world!

6. I heard that there was a vibrant alternative movement in Southern Chiba so that is also something I'd like to investigate.

Please get in touch with me if you'd like to collaborate in some way, some day.

Welcome!

ようこそ！

You have arrived to a bilingual blog about sustainability, permaculture, and peace activism. Yeah! Please leave a comment if you feel inspired.Thanks for visiting and I hope you spread the seeds:) *the ratio of English to Japanese changes unexpectedly so if there is a lot of strange foreign characters, check out older articles might have the more familiar alphabet.

About Me

A "half", as they call us in Japan, who grew up in metropolis and rural Japan, Hawaii, Santa Cruz CA, Central America, and now Orcas Island WA. Taking a stroll through the path of permaculture, mindfulness, and love. Looking for more like-minded people in Japan or people interested in transforming Japan...
百姓／平和活動家／パーマカルチャー・デザイナーのヒヨコです。ブロックス・パーマカルチャー・ホームステッド（ワシントン州のオーカス島）で弟子入り生活をしていましたが、今は東京で平和と愛を育む活動をしています。先生、仲間、プロジェクト、土地を捜しています！